Water. Culture. Pleasure. Water

As the inner city of Stockholm consists of 14 islands, it is obvious that the water of the Baltic Sea plays an important role in the topography of the city. Our recommendation for a great long weekend in Stockholm is to enjoy the water as much as possible.

As in Naples, many of Stockholm’s subway stations are designed by artists. Nevertheless, you should make the ferry your main mode of transportation in Stockholm. For most of us who don’t live in Sydney, Venice or Istanbul, taking the ferry back to the hotel after the opera or dinner and enjoying the evening lights of Stockholm from the water is a wonderful experience.

Fittingly, our hotel recommendation for Stockholm is about 25 minutes by ferry from the city center: Hotel J is located in Nacka Strand, offers Scandinavian minimalist rooms, a yoga pavilion with a view of the Baltic Sea, a pleasant designer co-working space as a lobby, friendly service and an excellent breakfast in an old villa that is part of the modern hotel ensemble.

If you walk along the coast from the hotel, you will find an excellent training station for early morning sports, freely accessible to all along the coastline. In the evening, you can casually enjoy a glass of wine right on the water’s edge while watching the usually gleaming white, often wonderfully old-fashioned white ferries moving busily back and forth between Nacka beach and the inner beach.

The former hunting grounds of the kings

The Djurgården peninsula is just a ferry stop away. This part of Djurgården is restfully quiet. Galleries of former bankers who invested their fortunes in art, small cafés by the water, greenery wherever you look and an impressive memorial to the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia on December 26, 2004 with extraordinary landscaping are just some of the attractions.

On this part of the island of Djurgården, long walks in picturesque scenery, art and tranquillity are the order of the day. On the other side of the island you will find the famous Vasa Museum, where the warship Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 just a few meters from its launch in the ferry waters off Stockholm, was salvaged 333 years later. There is also an amusement park with rides that are enough to make you dizzy.

Ferry number 80

All these attractions and many more can be found along the route of ferry 80, which takes you to the archipelago, which consists of around 30,000 small islands and rocks, at very reasonable prices (but of course cashless, like everywhere else in Sweden).

On many of the islands there are pretty houses with even more elegant bathhouses and boat moorings. Painted in the attractive wood colors of oxblood red, vanilla yellow or pistachio green with elaborate turrets and other wooden ornaments, you get the impression that you have landed in paradise.

Many of the excursion boats take a similar route to ferry number 80, so you can save yourself the expense of the (usually full) tourist boat and invest the money in good food.

Pleasure without remorse

Whether on a Market stall at the famous Saluhall market hall in Östermalm or in a restaurant that has been awarded a Michelin star: Fish and seafood can almost always be found on the menu, making it easy to get your omega-3 fatty acids. Most of these dishes or starters are served with extremely tasty sauces, which often contain sour cream and almost always dill.

We love the Opera Bar of the famous restaurant Operakällaren. Opened in 1787 as an inn serving juniper, it is located on the site of the opera house where King Gustav III was shot during a masked ball.

At the Opera Bar, the service is flawless, the space is both grandiose and intimate and the food is excellent. The kitchen is one of the few restaurants with long opening hours. Reservations are recommended.

Opera Bar Stockholm © GloriousMe 2025

In every city there is a popular restaurant where you can invite business friends, which is not too classy and not too simple and where you can rely on the quality of the drinks, the food and the service.

One such restaurant is Restaurant Prinsen in Stockholm. Situated in the middle of the best shopping area where you should not miss the traditional department store Nordiska Kompaniet, if you have a soft spot for architecture and a good selection of traditional department stores, it is a welcome stop before or after shopping, or just for a good meal, in summer also on the terrace in front of it.

Fika

Fika is the name of the Swedish coffee break that everyone seems to love, as the number of cafés and delicatessens serving excellent coffee and sweet pastries is countless. The most famous are the cinnamon buns and cardamom knots, as the great seafaring nation of Sweden also loved to import spices.

Traditionally, seven different types of cookies were served with coffee at the fika. However, cosmopolitan Sweden understands if you are not a sugar lover and instead offers a “sandwich cake” (smörgåstårta, which consists of soft slices of toast filled with smoked salmon, eggs and shrimps).

For those who don’t like fish, there are sausage stands, similar to those in Vienna, which are called Korvmoj here and serve the hot dog not only with cabbage but also with mashed potatoes in a roll.

To do and not to do

The Royal Opera House is a must for every opera lover and history buff. The old town (Gamla Stan) is to be enjoyed with a little caution, as there are no reports of overtourism from Stockholm yet, but the small island on which the picturesque houses of the old town nestle together is well visited at any time of the year and day.

The Royal Opera House in Stockholm © GloriousMe 2025

But as in all well-frequented tourist hotspots such as Capri or Venice, you will also find quiet places and restaurants to the right and left of the busy paths, which are in the second row and therefore have to make more effort and do not charge astronomical prices for a good coffee.

In our opinion, however, a visit to the old town is sufficient. The other districts are far too interesting for that.

Once and again

We were already thrilled with the journey. The Arlanda AirPort Express jets into the city at 187 kilometers per hour within 18 minutes to the main train station. You get off and find yourself on the finest gray carpet and arrive in the entrance hall of the station, where friendly Swedes explain the way or you feel like lingering a little in the stores. A little piece of Japan in Europe. For anyone traveling from Germany and experiencing the train stations there, this is the perfect place to go into raptures.

If you are looking for hot sunshine, you are probably not happy in Sweden, as the maximum temperatures even in summer are around 20 degrees Celsius. Reason for us to enjoy the ferry trips at the end of June in a sweater and warm jacket, no obstacle for the young Swedes to be out and about in a fine summer dress or shorts.

GloriousMe will certainly be spending many more days in Stockholm and Sweden. No matter what the season. You can always enjoy what Stockholm is all about (with the right clothes).

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Photographs © GloriousMe 2025